The invention relates to a transport device for conveying automotive vehicles in a building, as well as to a method for garaging automotive vehicles.
In principal, different garaging systems for driverless vehicles can be differentiated, namely, those wherein the vehicles are transported on pallets by the transport means and are parked with the pallets and those wherein the vehicles are unloaded from the transport means and are put down without a base onto the parking places.
Both systems are subject to spatial limitations: If the vehicles remain on the pallets, each pallet must be configured for the largest vehicle to be garaged, so that with the large number of smaller vehicles, parking space is wasted. In addition, a pallet is required for each parking place, so that the expenditure in terms of equipment for such a garage is very high (for example, WO-A 87/0240).
If the vehicle is parked without pallets (for example according to EP-A 563 664), it becomes necessary to remove it from the transport means at the parking place, and respectively, when the vehicle is collected to re-load it onto the transport means. In addition, the transport means must be low enough to be removable from beneath the vehicle lowered onto the floor of the parking space, and, when tire damage occurs, can be inserted at the time of collection under a car which has sunk down even lower. The vehicles must be raised, wherein, as no lifting means is available at the parking places, such a means must be provided on the transport means.
The problems outlined are reduced when the parking level of the vehicle is above the floor of the garage, on which the transport means are moving. Nevertheless, additional means are necessary in the building for producing the parking level (for example, according to WO-A 92/03629 or WO-A 92/10628) and the height is increased considerably.
For pallet-free transport of the automotive vehicle, the transport means are provided with horizontally pivotable arms which grasp and lift up each wheel of the vehicle. The transport means must suit the different wheelbases of different vehicles. With respect to this, it has already been proposed in DE-C 38 20 891 or DE-C 39 09 702 to divide the transport means into two independent units. The transport means are track bound and can therefore go under the vehicle in only one direction, whereupon in the correct position the arms are pivoted out.